Nash (41 page)

hands, the skilled touch, to belong to him. He rotated the pad of his thumb across one of my nipples and it

made my entire body clench in response. If he kept that up there would be recompense for the last scene of

romance in this living room. I pulled back a little and kissed him in the center of his chest. I loved how

resilient, how taut and hard his body always felt under my mouth. I put a kiss that left a mark right over

where his heart was beating steady and strong and let my tongue twist and turn around the flat disk of his

nipple. It made me giggle a little when it beaded up in response.

I tickled his abs with my fingertips and rubbed my palms over the wings that covered his sides. I

thought the white boxers were my favorite against his swarthy and darker-toned skin, but I decided on the

spot as I pulled him free that my favorite from here on out was going to be none at all. His erection was

pulsing, practically vibrating in my hand. It was still topped with the metal ring and the barbell and it

quivered eagerly in my hand when I gave it a little squeeze at the base.

Nash made a low noise in the back of his throat when I sank down in front of where he was still leaning

against the couch. His eyes were midnight dark and there was a high flush on his cheeks. The power, the

pride I felt that I could make this man react like that made me really feel like the most beautiful woman in

the entire world.

My teeth clicked on the metal ring, which made me want to laugh but had him groaning. He collected

my hair up in both his hands as I started rolling, sucking, licking the thing in a way that had his abs

contracting and his thighs quivering. I had to keep my hands involved, all of him was never going to fit in

my mouth at one time, and I had to admit it was way more fun to do this when there were things my tongue

could play with. I heard him growl my name, which was super hot, felt him tug at my hair, which meant he

was close. I wasn’t paying attention to what he was saying, I was too busy thinking about how heady the

sensation was, how delicious making him react felt … sure, this was more about his pleasure than my own,

but his taste, his feel, it was enough to light me up just fine.

I had my hands around the base of his cock, was using them in time with the sucking, swirling motion

of my mouth, so I was surprised when he literally yanked me off of him, which resulted in a drag of teeth

and a squeeze that was probably rougher than felt good. He yelped out a swearword and I was going to

demand to know what he thought he was doing, but my panties were unceremoniously stripped off my

legs, leaving me bare and open. He wrenched us around while breathing hard and put my hands on the

back of the couch. With a palm in the center of my back between my shoulder blades, he bent me over just

a little and used his knee to nudge my legs open enough so that he could fit where he needed to be.

He dropped a heavy kiss on the back of my neck, reached around the front, and covered each of my

breasts with his wide hands. He didn’t say anything, just slid inside me, and I thought I was going to die. In

this position he went deeper, I felt him more intensely, and the drag and pull of that little extra he was

working with made stars dance in front of my eyes. I had to clutch the couch cushions, had to bite my lip—

hard—to keep from screaming out each time he pulled out and pushed back in. We had had a lot of sex

over the last few months but nothing that felt this raw, this unhinged, and potent.

I felt like this was him leaving his undeniable mark, and as the pleasure grew, as his rhythm and tempo

increased, as one of his hands started to slide across my stomach headed for the spot that would push me

over at the barest touch, I was ready for it all, I was practically ready to shatter. Nash’s breathing shifted, his

driving hips stilled for a fraction, and his hand stalled on my stomach.

“Holy fuck.” We were both so close, it was hovering so right there, and I had no idea what he was doing

but I was going to strangle him if he didn’t start moving again. He was panting like a marathon runner, and

when I looked at him over my shoulder, in question, he grimaced and kissed me hard on the mouth all

while pulling out of my body as slowly as was humanly possible. It made both of us groan and swear at the

same time.

“Do you want to talk about the seriously unprotected sex we were just having or do you want to just go

in my room and finish?”

I squealed and buried my face in his chest. “Jeez, no wonder it felt so good.”

He snorted a laugh and I yelped when he swung me up in his arms and headed to the bedroom.

“Maybe you wanna add birth control to your to-do list sometime soon?”

I ran my tongue along the shell of his ear and rubbed my fingers over the flames inked on his shoulders

and grinned up at him. If he hadn’t attached his mouth to the side of my neck, started sucking and swirling

his tongue along the sensitive cords there, I would’ve told him that I had taken care of that little detail

shortly after our rendezvous in the Charger just to be safe. If I had known it would bring on a hasty end to

all the delicious things he was doing to my body in the living room, I would’ve sent him a memo about it.

I hit the center of the bed with a little “ouf” when he gracelessly tossed me, and I leaned back to watch

him while he got himself all situated. I blinked up at him with wide eyes as he crawled up over me and

settled himself back between my legs.

“You are so beautiful.” He really was from the inside out.

He lifted an eyebrow and placed a sweet little kiss on the end of my nose.

“So are you.” I used to just ignore him, to think they were just words he was saying because he thought

they needed to be said. Now I understood he meant it and it didn’t matter if I looked the way I did now or

if I looked the way I did then, it was the person I was he found beautiful.

“Thank you.”

He slid back inside of me, and since my body was already primed, already on the the brink of going

over, it didn’t take much to have me hollering his name into the ceiling and digging my heels into his back.

He curled my legs up high on his sides, rose up a little on one knee, and powered into my compliant body

until he found his own release and collapsed on top of me in a heavy heap.

The ring in the center of his nose was a tactical thrill against my shoulder as he kissed my collarbone

and muttered drily, “I’m done trying to have sex on that couch. It never ends well for me.”

I had to laugh as I wrapped my arms across his wide shoulders. “I think it ended just fine.”

“I love you, Saint.”

“I love you, too, Nash.”

Nash wanted to live a life with no regrets, I wanted to live a life that was fulfilled. We needed each other

to accomplish that, and now that we had each other there was no then versus now, there was just this life

we had together.

I got the promotion. It was awesome and I was really proud of myself, but what made it even better was

how proud Nash was of me. My job didn’t have to be important to him, but because it was so much of who

I was, the fact that he inherently knew what a big deal it was made me love him even more.

Our schedules were still crazy and all over the place, even more so now that I was trying to learn the

different parts of my new job. It didn’t matter, though, we never spent a night apart. My place, his place,

one of us was always in the other’s bed, and as long as I woke up next to him in the morning, I didn’t care

where I put my head at night.

I was also branching out my social skills. I went out with Sunny, tried to join Nash’s friends on their

Thursday girls’ night out if it didn’t conflict with work, and had taken to having coffee with Royal every

morning I stayed at Nash’s place. I enjoyed the time spent with all of them, but there was something about

Royal, something about watching another young woman struggle with a selfless, emotionally taxing job,

that drew me to her. I didn’t have to try and be her friend anymore, I was just her friend … period.

I was running late. Nash had called on my lunch break and asked me to meet him at the new tattoo shop

when I got off of work. I had a late admission and ended up having to stay an extra half hour until the

doctor could get to them. I knew the contractor had just finished with everything in the new space and all

they had left to do was get the final members of the staff in place so they could open up for business in a

few weeks. It had been a labor of love, cost a pretty penny, but all of the Marked family was super excited

for the new adventure to begin. I figured he just wanted to show his baby off, and I felt bad I was holding

him up, so I reminded myself to oooh and awww with appropriate vigor. I was really proud of him.

I had to park around the corner and make my way through the typical after-work, LoDo crowd to get to

the shop. The location was dynamite; he wasn’t going to know what to do with himself when it took off

like I knew it would. Nash was leaning against the glass storefront talking on his phone. He caught sight of

me and gave me a wink. He couldn’t really stand around waiting without finding something to do with his

hands. I think that’s how he avoided reaching for a cigarette. He was doing a great job quitting and every

time he was tempted I reminded him he had made it all the way through the ordeal with Phil without

lighting up, so there was no way he needed one now.

When I got to him he scooped me up in a rib-crushing hug and kissed me like we hadn’t had wild

shower sex just that morning. I would be the luckiest girl in the world if he was always going to be that

happy to see me.

“Did you get my text that I was going to be late?”

“Yep. It gave me time to wrap up the surprise.”

I gave him a funny look and noticed that the huge pane of glass that was the front of the store was

covered in brown butcher’s paper.

“I thought you were just going to show me the new shop.”

He laughed and pulled on one of the pigtails I had been rocking at work.

“I am. It’s amazing, but I want to show you something first. We went round and round, tossed idea after

idea back and forth about what the new shop should be called.”

I was starting to get a little anxious. I pulled my bottom lip between my teeth and looked up at him from

under my pale lashes.

“What did you do, Nash?”

“This new shop is the future for the Marked, but you’re
my
future. I figured I might as well tie the two

of them together because you are both my life.”

He reached behind him and pulled all the brown paper down off the glass, and I had to cover my mouth

with my hands. All I could do was stare at him and back at the painted glass in stunned disbelief.

In old-fashioned lettering like one would find on an old curio shop or an old apothecary window was

the name of the new shop: THE SAINTS OF DENVER TATTOO. It blew my mind and made me want to

cry.

“Cora and the guys loved it. It’s different and goes with our retro theme we have going on.”

“Nash …” I couldn’t even think of what to say to him. It was an honor, but more than that, it was a

testament as to how important I was always going to be to him.

“I hope you’re all right with it.”

He was gloating and I wanted to equal parts kiss him and kick him. I just tilted my head to the side and

looked at him like he had lost his mind.

I asked him, “You’re amazing, you know that, right?”

He picked me up and swung me around until I was laughing so hard that I had tears running down my

face.

He cleared his throat and rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t ever want you to regret giving me

another chance, Saint.”

“You gave me another chance as well, Nash. I think when you’re in love that’s what you do, give

chances and take chances. Now let’s go inside and you can show me your new baby.”

He pushed open the door to the shop that he had named after me and I followed him into our future. I

didn’t need to look back anymore, to hold on to hurtful and damaging memories. I had Nash to always

move toward, and more importantly I now had myself and all the things about me that made me who I was

to hold on to. I loved a good man, a nice man, but more than that, I loved myself, and that fulfilled me in a

way nothing else could because I knew I deserved the best and Nash Donovan was the best thing for me …

ever.

EPILOGUE

“So what’s the verdict?”

Cora sent her gaze dancing between me and Rule like I was an idiot for even asking the question.

“I think that if you two boneheads don’t hire her, I might just murder you both.”

I snickered and Rule looked up from the little pink bundle he was holding in his tattooed hands with a

frown.

“I’m the favorite uncle, you can’t murder me.” The baby cooed like she was totally in agreement with